With intuitive navigation and functionality throughout, Staco Energy Product’s website has been designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience allowing customers to access detailed product information.

“Our site was created with the user experience firmly in mind,” says Libby Seder, Communications Coordinator of Staco Energy Products. “The website has been designed using the latest technology so the site is compatible with today’s browsers and mobile devices.”

Some of the key features of Staco’s website include the following site enhancements:

Literature Download Center: Helping to make Staco Energy’s vast portfolio of products easy to browse is their electronic Literature Download Center. The Literature Finder makes it easy for you to access the latest technical information, view product images and download up to date technical data sheets, manuals, brochures, drawings, and much more!

Rep/Distributor Locator: Requesting a quote or finding a representative and/or distributor located in your area could not be easier with Staco’s Rep/Distributor Locator. Simply type in your zip code, select the product you’re interested in, and you’re immediately directed to the appropriate contact in your area. Continue Reading...

Power is everything. Consumers demand connectivity to home, business, people and places 24 hours a day. In this uber-integrated information society, staying in touch through Wi-Fi, Ethernet, cellular and other networks is the expectation.

Momentary power loss can cause significant damage to data centers and open security vulnerabilities in the protected premises or critical infrastructure, such as power transmission. A Wall Street Journal report, “U.S. Risks National Blackout from Small-Scale Attack,” (March 12, 2014) cites that the United States could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out just nine of the country’s 55,000 electric-­transmission substations on a scorching summer day.

Staco Energy Products has selected Endeavor, a leading cloud-based Configure-Price-Quote software provider, to modernize its quote-to-order generation and processes. The energy product manufacturer will use EndeavorCPQ software for quoting and proposal generation to manage complex quoting demands, streamline processes for increased efficiencies, enable faster response to requests, while continuing to provide exceptional service to its customers.

Staco Energy Products is a leading innovator of Power Quality and Voltage Control technologies, and is the oldest and largest manufacturer of variable transformers in the United States. “We are thrilled to work with a storied manufacturer like Staco Energy Products,” said Sean Myers, Co-founder and CEO of Endeavor. “Teaming up with Staco Energy Products to provide our CPQ solution is an exciting development for our company.”

“EndeavorCPQ will be necessary to continue our path of historic financial growth,” Jeff Hoffman, President of Staco Energy Products said. The company’s average growth rate has been well over 10 percent the last two years.

Independent analysts vetted Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) software, like EndeavorCPQ, and found implementing these solutions resulted in increased total company revenue year-over-year. To read their research, please visit the “Analyst Reports” page at EndeavorCPQ.com.

“We needed a tool that would make it easier for us to do business with our customers,” said Hoffman. “EndeavorCPQ gives us that tool. Now we can ensure more accurate pricing and give quicker access to product data.”

About Endeavor Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2015, Endeavor is a leader in cloud-based Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) software solutions. EndeavorCPQ automates the quote-to-order process, empowering sales professionals to spend more time in front of customers and less time behind their desk. A cloud-based, go-anywhere software, EndeavorCPQ pulls data from leading CRM and ERP systems, eliminating errors and ensuring accurate backend updates. To schedule a demo or learn more, visit EndeavorCPQ.com.

About Staco Energy ProductsStaco Energy Products Company manufactures voltage regulators, active harmonic filters, uninterruptible power supplies and other engineered power quality solutions. For more than 75 years, customers worldwide have relied on Staco Energy Products as their dependable source for standard and tailored solutions to a wide range of electrical power problems. Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, Staco Energy Products is a wholly owned subsidiary of Components Corporation of America, located in Dallas, Texas.

“We have had substantial growth over the last two years, averaging thirteen percent,” says Jeff Hoffman, President of Staco Energy Products Co, “And we have positioned ourselves to keep that pace going in 2015.”

In 2015, Staco plans to continue their major efforts in engineering to get other products launched to complete their UPS product portfolio and to position themselves to be in a stronger competitive position. Continue Reading...

The Staco Energy Products First Line PL 924 exceeds UL 924 and UL 924 OUST requirements and incorporates insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) technology to provide uninterruptable power to emergency lighting loads like HID, LED, fluorescent, and incandescent lighting. The First Line PL 924 allows the user to maintain one central power source to make it easier to maintain and monitor a facility. The First Line PL 924 may be equipped and configured with remote monitoring via dry contracts and/or a serial data link to allow easy integration into standard SCADA systems.

The FirstLine BMS wireless battery-monitoring system by Staco Energy Products provides real-time, proactive battery state-of-health data for critical power needs. Continuous voltage, current, impedance, temperature and cycling data are available at all times, archived and graphically displayed for immediate analysis. An LCD graphic touch-screen data collector enables on-site review with Ethernet/RS 485/input and output dry-contact ports for communication, Web connectivity and remote monitoring. It has email, text and dry-contact alarm notification and stores up to three years of data.

Emergency lighting inverters Announced to “provide an alternative source of power to any environment,” is this new UniStar SCLI924 single phase, on-line double conversion emergency lighting inverter. It maintains efficient alternating current emergency power to operate all emergency lighting fixtures at “fulllight” output that is dependable and secure.Among UniStar SCLI924 features are 350W-21kW single phase output which uses latest PWM technology. Models are UL 924 and meet NFPA 101, NFPA 70, NEC, and OSHA standards. Additional information on these USA-made inverters is free upon request.

The FirstLine P 924 is a 58.5kW to 225kW 3-phase, on-line double-conversion emergency lighting inverter. Featuring IGBT and digital signal processing (DSP), the emergency power provides full light output from all lamps and fixtures for the entire runtime. In addition, the inverter offers front, top, or bottom access; has a high input power factor of 0.99; and features low input current distortion of <= 3%.

“We have had substantial growth over the last two years, averaging thirteen percent,” says Jeff Hoffman, President of Staco Energy Products Co, “And we have positioned ourselves to keep that pace going in 2015.”

In 2015, Staco plans to continue their major efforts in engineering to get other products launched to complete their UPS product portfolio and to position themselves to be in a stronger competitive position. Continue Reading...

Driven by new products and a revamped sales effort, Staco Energy Products posted $15 million in sales in 2014.

Not only is that a new record for Miamisburg-based Staco, but 2015 is shaping up to be an even better year.

"We're putting a lot of focus on innovation and new products in this company," said Jeff Hoffman, who has shaken things up since taking the role of president at Staco nearly two years ago.

That's great news for the Dayton regional economy, as much of Staco's products are shipped to buyers outside the area.

Staco unveiled four products in 2014, three new and one upgrade, to lure new customers and drive more sales to existing customers. Hoffman said the company should make three more product launches in 2015 — two entirely new products and one major upgrade to an existing line.

Staco has averaged double-digit sales growth over the last two years and Hoffman expects to post 15 to 20 percent growth this year, which could lead to three to five new hires.

Staco makes voltage control, VAR compensation, uninterruptible power supplies and engineered power quality solutions. The company — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Components Corp. of America — has about 70 employees, most of whom are its Miamisburg office or Dayton production facility.

Hoffman said a restructured sales force and a shift in getting products to market also is driving better sales.

Staco traditionally sold through distributors and electrical consultants, but has been hiring sales people to work for it directly in an attempt to get closer to end-users.

In late 2013 expansion, Staco moved its headquarters from Dayton to Byers Road in Miamisburg, which included a new engineering lab for research and development of products.

The importance of having an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is underscored by John Steele, inside sales manager for Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Inc. “Power can go out or have a fluctuation at any given point,” he says. “The question is how much do you stand to lose if your critical loads go down? A UPS does more than just bridge the gap for power fluctuation. It also protects your critical loads from surges, spikes, switching transients, or other power anomalies that can potentially damage the servers themselves.” Once the server or a component in the data center gets damaged, it may take days to get a new piece of equipment installed, he adds.

Climate change, against the backdrop of an aging electricity grid, means there may be an even greater need for providing such protection.

Severe weather is the number one cause of power outages in the United States, costing the economy billions of dollars a year in lost output and wages, spoiled inventory, delayed production, inconvenience, and damage to the grid infrastructure. Those are the findings of “Economic Benefits of Increasing Grid Resilience to Weather Outages” a 2013 report prepared by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and the US Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, with assistance from the White House Office of Science and Technology.

The report’s researchers make the point that the aging nature of the grid—much of which was constructed over a period of more than 100 years—has made Americans more susceptible to outages caused by severe weather. Between 2003 and 2012, roughly 679 power outages—each affecting at least 50,000 customers—occurred due to weather events, according to the US Department of Energy.

Additionally, the report finds that the number of outages caused by severe weather is expected to rise as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of hurricanes, blizzards, floods, and other extreme weather events. In 2012, the US suffered 11 billion-dollar weather disasters—the second-most for any year on record, behind only 2011.

Those who run data centers are keenly aware of the criticality of the situation.

As a company that provides co-location and Cloud services, EasyStreet, based in Beaverton, OR, uses a great deal of energy and is dependent upon that energy to be available without interruption.

System uptime and availability are prime concerns. “Making sure that customer’s computing systems have available power is paramount to not only keeping systems up and running at high nines of availability, but for us to keep operating as a viable company,” points out Jon Crowhurst, director of EasyStreet’s technical services.

EasyStreet also has a commitment to being as green as possible and has won many accolades for its business and green initiatives, including being an EPA Green Power Partner.

Through several initiatives, both of EasyStreet’s data centers are now zero-carbon footprint energy consumers. To get to that point, EasyStreet has utilized wind power and flywheel energy storage to meet its needs in a sustainable fashion.

EasyStreet recently built a new SAS 70 (The Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70) Type II audited data center, and completed an energy-saving retrofit to its first data center. Both data centers operate on power that is 100% generated from wind as part of the Portland General Electric Wind Program.

Crowhurst says the company started buying wind offset credits three years ago for its first data center, initially purchasing 50% of its utilization offsets by wind. “We gave our co-lo [co-location center] customers the opportunity to participate in that program and pay a small up-charge to be able to put a

Portland General Electric Wind Program logo on the website, which means that we’re all participating in the program together,” he notes.

EasyStreet’s data center project is the first to qualify for funding through the Oregon Department of Energy’s State Energy Loan Program due to the energy efficiencies gained compared to conventional data center designs. Assisted by the Energy Trust of Oregon, EasyStreet played a pioneering role in developing the Oregon Department of Energy’s expertise in the area of efficient data center design, says Frank DeLattre, president of VYCON Energy.

“Through careful planning and implementation of energy smart technologies and systems, EasyStreet estimates that it will be able to save 524,000 kilowatts a year—enough energy to power 52 average households,” says DeLattre.

In a data center, the cooling system consumes the majority of power. With that in mind, Crowhurst and his team extended the company’s green design throughout the data center to include the purchase of energy-efficient UPS systems and energy-efficient transformers.

Reliability was the primary factor in choosing from among the available green technologies. Crowhurst looked to VYCON to learn more about its clean flywheel energy storage systems. The flywheels had to be able to work with double-conversion UPS systems. VYCON’s VDC-XE units fit the criteria.

“I visited the VYCON factory and looked at how the flywheels were made,” he notes. “VYCON’s experience and history in the marine and rail industry is a fairly impressive use of the technology and shows how rugged they are.”

VYCON’s VDC flywheel systems store and deliver a reliable source of direct current (DC) power, utilizing the kinetic energy of a high-speed flywheel. They are designed to be compatible with major brands of three-phase UPS systems. The systems interface with the DC bus of the UPS, just like a bank of batteries, receiving charging current from the UPS and providing DC to the UPS inverter during discharge, says DeLattre.

The technology enables the VYCON flywheel to charge and discharge at high rates for countless cycles without degradation throughout its 20-year life. The flywheel systems’ footprint offered another benefit. “As a co-lo, space is a precious commodity,” says Crowhurst. “The more space we have, the more we can accommodate our customers’ servers and other computing assets.”

In its new data center, EasyStreet has three VYCON VDC-XE systems running in parallel with double-conversion UPS systems. If there’s a power outage, the 300-kW flywheel systems act as a bridge designed to seamlessly transfer to the facility’s diesel-engine generators. Crowhurst says backup batteries are not needed.

“Having 30 minutes of batteries is, in my opinion, pointless. If the generator doesn’t start in the first 30 seconds, there’s nothing you can do,” he says. “If you had two generator mechanics with their tools in hand standing next to the generator and said, ‘I need this fixed in 14 minutes,’ they’d both laugh at you, because there’s nothing that can be done to diagnose or repair a problem with the generator in the time allowed. A well-maintained generator plant doesn’t need 15 minutes—or even 10 minutes—of batteries.”

Pleased with the results the company had garnered to date from installed flywheel technology that had performed as planned through utility glitches, EasyStreet’s senior management team added three flywheel units, which are connected to an Eaton 9395 UPS to support the existing data center load. The flywheels are designed to work with any UPS.

Large UPS SystemsAnother option for data centers was recently unveiled by Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, which introduced its 9900C UPS for large data centers: a 1-MW scalable system designed for high efficiency—up to 97%—at all load levels. The system also is designed for a small footprint and low total cost of ownership in a true online double conversion UPS.

The 9900C three-phase UPS also is designed with improved power usage effectiveness over conventional UPS systems. Its scalability enables up to eight units for N+1 redundancy or N capacity to offer high power density per square foot of floor space.

In incorporating Digital Signal Processor and Direct Digital Control, Mitsubishi offers “smart” control of its Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) technology to achieve optimal performance. Additionally, its three-level conversion design provides a 15-year lifetime on the capacitors. The 9900C provides a variety of open architecture communications methods as well as an intuitive LCD touch panel for quick access of system status, monitoring, and control.

The most important factor to consider when making a decision about a UPS is the technology, the desired size, and the types of loads on the system. “There has been a big push for transformerless types of UPS in the past 10 years, primarily because these systems have become much more reliable,” says Steele. “The technology has improved, whereas 15 years ago, everything was transformer-based until you got into the smaller 1 kilovolt-ampere to 10 kilovolt-amperes UPS.”

Steele points out that it is inadvisable to run a UPS on a 100% load.

“You want to run it closer to 30 to 50% load to optimize the performance of the UPS,” he says. “Another very critical aspect of UPS technology is how it plays in your facility: what size is your generator? What size is the utility feed coming in? What size is the distribution downstream of the UPS system?”

Additionally, the facility’s size, types of loads being powered up, and the temperature of the environment in which the UPS will be located all play a part in UPS selection. Once installed, ongoing maintenance is critical. The UPS needs an alternate power supply, such as batteries or a flywheel, says Steele.

“It’s just as important—if not more important—to maintain the alternate power supply as it is the UPS system,” he points out. “If you have batteries on the UPS system, depending on the battery technology you’re using, it’s very critical that those are looked at routinely, and over time, in comparison to how they looked on day one to be maintained properly.”

In maintaining the UPS system, it is ideal to have a trained manufacturer’s representative or an authorized service provider from the manufacturer examine the UPS system to ensure it is functioning properly, Steele adds.

First responders play another significant role. “We like to say that nothing ever goes wrong in the field, but there is training businesses look at to have somebody onsite who would be a first responder to report back to say something is going on with the UPS system,” says Steele. “They would call somebody to the site to help continue to troubleshoot, but at least they have the information needed to know on what’s happening at the site.”

A UPS system should be tested two to four times annually, Steele says. “I highly recommend batteries should be tested four times a year,” he adds.

As previous experiences in severe weather events have demonstrated, the placement of backup power is important to its operation. “Usually the UPS systems, when we get into the larger sizes over 100 kilovolt-amperes, tend to go in the utility rooms with the major transformers, the generators, the switchboards, and the switchgear,” says Steele. “If it’s 100 kilovolt-amperes, you more often see those on the data center floor or closer to the servers themselves. If it’s obviously going to be in an area that could potentially flood, you may want to consider relocating the UPS system. Electronics don’t like a lot of water.”

A return on investment in UPS systems will depend on its size and number of units, Steele points out. His company is seeing two- to three-year returns on larger projects, he adds.

Steele says, “The norm five years ago were the 500- and 750-kilovolt-ampere systems, but now we are moving into the larger one megawatt-type units and taking that as high as we can go with parallel systems up to four or five megawatts. It seems like there’s a shift right now moving towards the larger systems as opposed to multiple small systems.”

More Large UPS systemsJim Jones, director of UPS products for Staco Energy Products, says his company has taken note of requests for UPS systems with higher operating efficiencies. To that end, Staco Energy Products is introducing a larger UPS with a 480-V transformerless topology “to eliminate as much of the energy losses as we possibly can in the operation of the system,” notes Jones, who adds that containing rising utility costs is the driving factor. “We’re looking at the 480 topology in the 300-, 400- and 500-kilovolt-ampere ranges,” he states.

The company’s end users are primarily in the mid-range to large IT sector. “Most of the facilities are finding that their utility costs are continuously climbing,” points out Jones. “The only way to eliminate that cost is using more efficient equipment. Unity as a power factor is the best course, but that’s not the easiest and least expensive way to develop the technology.”

Many of the UPS units today have a 0.8 or 0.9 power factor, says Jones. “There are a lot of losses due to heat rejection because of the electronics in the UPS itself,” he says. “We need to eliminate that. We on the UPS side can help them save on their utility usage, their kilowatt demand.”

Staco Energy Products has five UPS units, not including the new one that’s currently rolling out. The line includes:

The new UPS system will be part of the FirstLine P offerings, which does use transformers, notes Jones. “The next step will be going to transformerless 480,” he says.

Staco’s UPS units are user-friendly, adds Jones. “The unit can be completely controlled and monitored right at the control panel on the unit or remotely from a desk.” Maintenance is standard and includes an annual preventative maintenance check, primarily focusing on the condition of the batteries.

Staco Energy Products also manufactures power factor correction units to help facilities control high utility bills. “We look at it from the standpoint of complete savings for the data center from all aspects, from the power factor correction and a more efficient UPS to minimize the utility costs the customer is paying,” says Jones.

Utilities do not have the money to build new power plants, he adds. “The only way they’re going to improve is to put demands on their customers, which they’re doing today—increasing the kilowatt demand charges and forcing their customers to use more efficient equipment in their facilities and reduce their demand charges.”

Jones talks about a typical ROI target for the UPS units: “As long as the ROI is 13 months or less, the project is usually a go, and approved,” he says. “If it gets above that, it takes a little bit longer to justify it.”

The Move Toward Green“Tapping the power of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass and others will help to reduce our country’s dependence on fossil fuels and foreign imports of petroleum,” notes Phil Charatz, president and CEO of Fuji Electric Corporation of America. “By achieving energy independence, we can preserve the environment around us and see a critical shift in our approach to product development.

“Right now, ‘alternative energy’ and ‘green’ remain somewhat of a trend, which means the industries that seek to advance these technologies rely heavily on government subsidies to survive,” he adds. “In order for these companies to thrive and sustain long-term success, it’s our responsibility to embrace energy-efficient products as a way of life.”

“With products ranging from small components such as power semiconductors to large systems that include rectifiers, transformers, and UPS systems, we strive to achieve superior efficiency levels for reductions in power consumption,” says Charatz. “With large systems, increases of even 0.1% efficiency will have a tremendous impact on the end user’s total energy usage, so our R&D [research and development] and engineering teams are constantly seeking new, innovative methods to use in Fuji Electric’s product development and manufacturing processes.”

The company’s 500-kVA UPS System is designed for 97% efficiency, achieved through a true-online double conversion UPS system.

“By adopting Fuji Electric’s proprietary RB-IGBT (Reverse Blocking IGBT) technology, we have achieved conductive loss reduction and reactor loss reduction in a new three-level conversion architecture called AT-NPC (Advanced T-type Neutral-Point Clamped), compared with conventional two-level and three-level products,” says Charatz. By using RB-IGBT technology, there is a reduction in power losses and a reduction in the number of components in the system, says Charatz.

“So in addition to the technology itself achieving increased efficiency, the total cost of ownership is reduced over time since less IGBTs means higher reliability and lower operation costs,” he points out.

“For many companies, the components within their UPS systems are manufactured by third-party companies, which makes quality control a challenge,” he says, adding that Fuji Electric utilizes its own components and is one of the largest manufacturers of IGBT devices. The company also sells these components to other UPS and power electronics providers.

The Albér measurement method is designed to be accurate, reliable and repeatable.

According to an Albér white paper, to understand the company’s measurement technique, one must view a battery as an electrochemical generator, and the internal resistance path through which current flows as an electrical pipe. When an external load is applied to the battery, the electrochemical generator supplies current through the electrical pipe. Everything functions well as long as the generator is working and the pipe is in good shape.

As the battery ages and deteriorates, its capability to supply power becomes more limited, such as a clogged pipe. Friction in the pipe increases, causing less flow. This restriction causes the terminal voltage of the battery to drop when it's time to deliver energy to the load. The result is the battery cannot deliver the desired capacity.

The white paper makes the point that under normal operating conditions, the battery supplies DC, not Alternating Current (AC). When a battery is tested using an AC test current—which is what AC conductance and AC impedance testing does—the test current not only flows through the normal (DC) electrical pipe, it also flows through the internal capacitor (the AC path) that is also a part of the battery.

All of the parallel plates inside the battery form a gigantic capacitor, an electrical component used in a variety of electrical and electronic designs. One of the operating characteristics of a capacitor is that it allows AC to flow through it while blocking DC. The electrical path through the capacitor acts like a pipe in parallel with the normal pipe. The size of the parallel AC pipe varies depending on the size of the battery and the frequency of the test current, but it can be much larger than the normal electrical path.

When the AC test is performed, a great part of the current flows through the AC path, rather than the DC path that needs to be tested. This means as the DC electrical pipe starts to clog, the AC test current flows through the larger pipe and never recognizes any of the problems in the DC pipe. The clogging appears as a minor problem, causing the user to believe the battery is at full or near full capacity.

When the Albér Cellcorder or Battery Monitor tests the state of health of the battery, it forces the battery to supply current through the normal DC pipe and then measures the terminal voltage to see if there are any developing problems, forcing the battery to perform the way it normally should while its performance is being measured.

Since the Albér technique is a true DC resistance measurement, the capacitor in the AC path acts like a closed valve, and the Albér Cellcorder or Battery Monitor evaluates the condition of the DC pipe alone.

Ohm’s Law states that V = I x R, meaning the voltage being read across a resistor is a function of how much current is flowing through the resistor and how big it is. That’s important because if the test current used is very low, then the voltage across the resistor is so low it can’t be measured with the average test equipment, according to the white paper.

The amount of test current is an important factor when assessing a battery’s internal resistance. Large batteries have very low resistance, so, if a small test current is being used, the voltage used to calculate the result will also be very small.

Most test instruments on the market use approximately one amp of test current, which means the resulting voltage is in microvolts (0.000001). There are instruments that can measure very small voltages, but they are very sophisticated and, consequently, very costly.

A low-test current is analogous to a very small flow through the pipe. A flow of just a few drops will not fill the entire pipe and, therefore, will not indicate a clog has developed until the pipe is almost fully clogged. In mission-critical systems, time is of the essence in taking corrective action.

Ohmic test methods were developed so batteries could be tested without disconnecting them from the charger and/or the load. Online testing is much easier and cheaper, but it's not easy to design test instruments capable of handling this application. The problem with testing batteries online is that the charger and the load generate a lot of noise (ripple) that affects the accuracy of the test, according to the Albér white paper. Ripple is a low voltage AC signal that interferes with the on-line test signal if a low-current, AC-based test system is used.

The Albér white paper suggests that in determining repeatable results, end users should put available equipment to the test to evaluate technologies for online ohmic testing. Connect the different instruments to a battery where the charge voltage can be changed and vary the load to the battery while comparing test results. The superior test equipment will provide repeatable results whether the battery is off line or online with full load.

Author's Bio: Carol Brzozowski writes on the topics of technology and industry.

The filter — in which the company and a partner spent $100,000 to develop — is being touted as more versatile in solving power problems caused by sophisticated electronic equipment than its original StacoSine model.

The StacoSine Plus also has been made to better control voltage and not overheat, said Rich Zuccaro, a program manager at Staco.

Staco makes voltage control, VAR compensation, uninterruptible power supplies and engineered power quality solutions. It has about 70 employees, most of whom are its Miamisburg office or Dayton production facility.

The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Components Corp. of America.

AAON Heating & Cooling Products

Industry leading HVAC manufacturer AAON in Tulsa, OK, needed electrical testing for a new product line and they chose Staco Energy Products. Test stands with expanded testing capability were selected and purchased.

Hunter Mattocks, Director of Operations Development at the Tulsa plant said,

“We went with Staco because the test stands had the capability we needed, the products have a good reputation in the industry, and a strong personal relationship.”

The test systems come in two configurations and have the capability of three phase testing up to 444 Amps, 600 Volts, and 2 different frequencies; 50 and 60 Hertz. The testers will be fully integrated into the production lines which are due to be fully operations later this year.

Pemex Oil and Gas, Mexico

Mexico's Government Pemex Oil uses specialty UPS and Regulator equipment to protect their refinery and other related petroleum high profile equipment. Our StacoAVR regulator is placed in the bypass of the DSE UPS from AMETEK Solidstate Controls to provide clean continuous regulated power to the loads when the bypass is utilized within the UPS system. The StacoAVR unit was chosen because we were able to meet the special color and technical design specifications required by Pemex to be used within their facilities. Over the last 6 years, we have sold over 40 units of various Kva sizes and voltages for our customer Ametek and their end customer Pemex.

ITW Food Equipment Group

Project was for the replacement of a 25 year old Staco test system used to test large industrial/commercial dishwasher systems sold to universities, hospitals and large institutions. The new system allows testing of a 3-phase system from 180-623 volts and supporting up to a 262 kVA load at any voltage. (e.g. 727 amps @ 208Volts or 250 amps @ 623 Volts).

Stanford University (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, Calif., is home to a 2-mile-long linear accelerator — the longest linear accelerator in the world. This multipurpose laboratory for astrophysics, photon science, accelerator, and particle physics research is operated by Stanford University, but used by scientists from many countries. In fact, a few scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for work carried out at SLAC. With that kind of pedigree, it’s no surprise that data storage needs are taken very seriously on this campus. So when the facility was experiencing problems with harmonics a few years ago that affected the servers’ power supplies, Boris Ilinets, P.E., electrical engineer assigned to the data center, knew it was time for action.

While Ilinets looked at both passive and active harmonic filters, he opted for active filtering in this instance (10 50A and one 100A StacoSine active harmonic filters from Staco Energy Products Co.) due to the wide range of harmonics present from the servers, disc arrays and switches in the SLAC facility — plus installation was simpler and more cost-efficient. Most importantly, according to Ilinets, they automatically corrected the multiple harmonic orders that were present. Since installation, he’s seen no problems from harmonic distortion. “In a new facility, you can design passive filters on the front end — in an existing building with all equipment in place, however, it is not as easy,” explains Ilinets. Continue Reading...

PRES Energy

Healthy savings for a major pharmaceutical distribution center were the result of an Energy Initiative by PRES Energy, Dayton, Ohio. The company was able to shave nearly $40,000 (or 18%) annually from its utility costs due to upgrades to their HVAC control and correction of poor power factor. Not bad for a patient showing no symptoms.

Pres Energy worked with equipment provider Staco Energy Products, who then commissioned a power quality survey (sometimes called an audit or study) to be completed for the facility. PowerEdge Technologies installed metering analyzers within the plant that were left in place to collect data for one week. The data collected was used to build a “load profile” that allowed engineers to determine the extent of the power-usage inefficiencies, and whether harmonics or other power anomalies were present. All of this information was then factored into the proper location-specific solution. Continue Reading...

Critical Power Systems, Inc.

Demps E. Bannerman, PhD., E.E., Critical Power Systems, Inc., a Staco Energy reseller and service partner had the pleasure of performing a start-up of Staco's FirstLine P 125 kVA UPS at a military installation last week. "Having been in sales & Service of UPS systems since 1977, it rare that a real "gem" comes along! When it comes to a UPS--I would consider this as a gem."Here's why Continue Reading...

San Diego Bay Area Electric, Inc. - Cinepolis Luxury Theaters

San Diego Bay Area Electric, Inc. specified and installed Staco's lighting inverter systems for the Cinepolis Luxury Theaters throughout Southern California. Since the installation, they have experienced two Utility failures at their Del Mar Project. Without fail Staco's inverter exceeded their expectations and outperformed their calculated battery run time in emergency mode. Dennis Phillips, President of San Diego Bay Area Electric, Inc., states, "IIn fact on the last power outage, it was hard to convince the patrons that there had been a utility failure, and they wanted to enjoy the lounge (which we lit with the inverter, as well as all other critical egress pathways). Continue Reading...

Bountiful City Light & Power Company (BCP&L)

Bountiful City officials approved the purchase of a voltage regulator which will be a key component of a new control center for the entire power system of the Bountiful City Light & Power Company. By a unanimous vote the city council voted to accept a bid from Staco Energy Products of Ohio for the regulator. The equipment is expected to protect new electronic and control equipment which will make up the control center according to Allen Johnson director of BCL&P. Continue Reading...

Assemble and re-configure electronic assemblies, battery systems and subassemblies from prints, wire lists, schematics, diagrams, and to MIL-SPEC if required. Duties will include but are not limited to: Special wiring, wiring harness construction, high quality soldering, component mounting, and mechanical construction of VT based and electronic units. Determine build quantity requirements to maintain target inventory levels. Operations will require the proper use of soldering equipment, lifting and hoisting equipment, common hand tools and those hand tools peculiar to electrical wiring such as strippers and crimpers, power tools, jig and fixtures and scales and rulers.

REQUIREMENTS

Possess the ability to read blueprints and electrical schematics and follow wiring diagrams; to make solder and mechanical connections per MIL-SPEC as required; to read scales and rulers; to accurately identify colors. Must be physically able to perform the job duties of the classification.

How to Apply

If you are interested in a factory or professional position, please email your cover letter and resume in Microsoft® Word format to our Human Resources Manager at jobs@stacoenergy.com.

With intuitive navigation and functionality throughout, Staco Energy Product’s website has been designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience allowing customers to access detailed product information.

“Our site was created with the user experience firmly in mind,” says Libby Seder, Communications Coordinator of Staco Energy Products. “The website has been designed using the latest technology so the site is compatible with today’s browsers and mobile devices.”

Some of the key features of Staco’s website include the following site enhancements:

Literature Download Center: Helping to make Staco Energy’s vast portfolio of products easy to browse is their electronic Literature Download Center. The Literature Finder makes it easy for you to access the latest technical information, view product images and download up to date technical data sheets, manuals, brochures, drawings, and much more!

Rep/Distributor Locator: Requesting a quote or finding a representative and/or distributor located in your area could not be easier with Staco’s Rep/Distributor Locator. Simply type in your zip code, select the product you’re interested in, and you’re immediately directed to the appropriate contact in your area. Continue Reading...

Power is everything. Consumers demand connectivity to home, business, people and places 24 hours a day. In this uber-integrated information society, staying in touch through Wi-Fi, Ethernet, cellular and other networks is the expectation.

Momentary power loss can cause significant damage to data centers and open security vulnerabilities in the protected premises or critical infrastructure, such as power transmission. A Wall Street Journal report, “U.S. Risks National Blackout from Small-Scale Attack,” (March 12, 2014) cites that the United States could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out just nine of the country’s 55,000 electric-­transmission substations on a scorching summer day.

Staco Energy Products has selected Endeavor, a leading cloud-based Configure-Price-Quote software provider, to modernize its quote-to-order generation and processes. The energy product manufacturer will use EndeavorCPQ software for quoting and proposal generation to manage complex quoting demands, streamline processes for increased efficiencies, enable faster response to requests, while continuing to provide exceptional service to its customers.

Staco Energy Products is a leading innovator of Power Quality and Voltage Control technologies, and is the oldest and largest manufacturer of variable transformers in the United States. “We are thrilled to work with a storied manufacturer like Staco Energy Products,” said Sean Myers, Co-founder and CEO of Endeavor. “Teaming up with Staco Energy Products to provide our CPQ solution is an exciting development for our company.”

“EndeavorCPQ will be necessary to continue our path of historic financial growth,” Jeff Hoffman, President of Staco Energy Products said. The company’s average growth rate has been well over 10 percent the last two years.

Independent analysts vetted Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) software, like EndeavorCPQ, and found implementing these solutions resulted in increased total company revenue year-over-year. To read their research, please visit the “Analyst Reports” page at EndeavorCPQ.com.

“We needed a tool that would make it easier for us to do business with our customers,” said Hoffman. “EndeavorCPQ gives us that tool. Now we can ensure more accurate pricing and give quicker access to product data.”

About Endeavor Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2015, Endeavor is a leader in cloud-based Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) software solutions. EndeavorCPQ automates the quote-to-order process, empowering sales professionals to spend more time in front of customers and less time behind their desk. A cloud-based, go-anywhere software, EndeavorCPQ pulls data from leading CRM and ERP systems, eliminating errors and ensuring accurate backend updates. To schedule a demo or learn more, visit EndeavorCPQ.com.

About Staco Energy ProductsStaco Energy Products Company manufactures voltage regulators, active harmonic filters, uninterruptible power supplies and other engineered power quality solutions. For more than 75 years, customers worldwide have relied on Staco Energy Products as their dependable source for standard and tailored solutions to a wide range of electrical power problems. Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, Staco Energy Products is a wholly owned subsidiary of Components Corporation of America, located in Dallas, Texas.

“We have had substantial growth over the last two years, averaging thirteen percent,” says Jeff Hoffman, President of Staco Energy Products Co, “And we have positioned ourselves to keep that pace going in 2015.”

In 2015, Staco plans to continue their major efforts in engineering to get other products launched to complete their UPS product portfolio and to position themselves to be in a stronger competitive position. Continue Reading...

The Staco Energy Products First Line PL 924 exceeds UL 924 and UL 924 OUST requirements and incorporates insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) technology to provide uninterruptable power to emergency lighting loads like HID, LED, fluorescent, and incandescent lighting. The First Line PL 924 allows the user to maintain one central power source to make it easier to maintain and monitor a facility. The First Line PL 924 may be equipped and configured with remote monitoring via dry contracts and/or a serial data link to allow easy integration into standard SCADA systems.

The FirstLine BMS wireless battery-monitoring system by Staco Energy Products provides real-time, proactive battery state-of-health data for critical power needs. Continuous voltage, current, impedance, temperature and cycling data are available at all times, archived and graphically displayed for immediate analysis. An LCD graphic touch-screen data collector enables on-site review with Ethernet/RS 485/input and output dry-contact ports for communication, Web connectivity and remote monitoring. It has email, text and dry-contact alarm notification and stores up to three years of data.

Emergency lighting inverters Announced to “provide an alternative source of power to any environment,” is this new UniStar SCLI924 single phase, on-line double conversion emergency lighting inverter. It maintains efficient alternating current emergency power to operate all emergency lighting fixtures at “fulllight” output that is dependable and secure.Among UniStar SCLI924 features are 350W-21kW single phase output which uses latest PWM technology. Models are UL 924 and meet NFPA 101, NFPA 70, NEC, and OSHA standards. Additional information on these USA-made inverters is free upon request.

The FirstLine P 924 is a 58.5kW to 225kW 3-phase, on-line double-conversion emergency lighting inverter. Featuring IGBT and digital signal processing (DSP), the emergency power provides full light output from all lamps and fixtures for the entire runtime. In addition, the inverter offers front, top, or bottom access; has a high input power factor of 0.99; and features low input current distortion of <= 3%.

“We have had substantial growth over the last two years, averaging thirteen percent,” says Jeff Hoffman, President of Staco Energy Products Co, “And we have positioned ourselves to keep that pace going in 2015.”

In 2015, Staco plans to continue their major efforts in engineering to get other products launched to complete their UPS product portfolio and to position themselves to be in a stronger competitive position. Continue Reading...

Driven by new products and a revamped sales effort, Staco Energy Products posted $15 million in sales in 2014.

Not only is that a new record for Miamisburg-based Staco, but 2015 is shaping up to be an even better year.

"We're putting a lot of focus on innovation and new products in this company," said Jeff Hoffman, who has shaken things up since taking the role of president at Staco nearly two years ago.

That's great news for the Dayton regional economy, as much of Staco's products are shipped to buyers outside the area.

Staco unveiled four products in 2014, three new and one upgrade, to lure new customers and drive more sales to existing customers. Hoffman said the company should make three more product launches in 2015 — two entirely new products and one major upgrade to an existing line.

Staco has averaged double-digit sales growth over the last two years and Hoffman expects to post 15 to 20 percent growth this year, which could lead to three to five new hires.

Staco makes voltage control, VAR compensation, uninterruptible power supplies and engineered power quality solutions. The company — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Components Corp. of America — has about 70 employees, most of whom are its Miamisburg office or Dayton production facility.

Hoffman said a restructured sales force and a shift in getting products to market also is driving better sales.

Staco traditionally sold through distributors and electrical consultants, but has been hiring sales people to work for it directly in an attempt to get closer to end-users.

In late 2013 expansion, Staco moved its headquarters from Dayton to Byers Road in Miamisburg, which included a new engineering lab for research and development of products.

The importance of having an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is underscored by John Steele, inside sales manager for Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Inc. “Power can go out or have a fluctuation at any given point,” he says. “The question is how much do you stand to lose if your critical loads go down? A UPS does more than just bridge the gap for power fluctuation. It also protects your critical loads from surges, spikes, switching transients, or other power anomalies that can potentially damage the servers themselves.” Once the server or a component in the data center gets damaged, it may take days to get a new piece of equipment installed, he adds.

Climate change, against the backdrop of an aging electricity grid, means there may be an even greater need for providing such protection.

Severe weather is the number one cause of power outages in the United States, costing the economy billions of dollars a year in lost output and wages, spoiled inventory, delayed production, inconvenience, and damage to the grid infrastructure. Those are the findings of “Economic Benefits of Increasing Grid Resilience to Weather Outages” a 2013 report prepared by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and the US Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, with assistance from the White House Office of Science and Technology.

The report’s researchers make the point that the aging nature of the grid—much of which was constructed over a period of more than 100 years—has made Americans more susceptible to outages caused by severe weather. Between 2003 and 2012, roughly 679 power outages—each affecting at least 50,000 customers—occurred due to weather events, according to the US Department of Energy.

Additionally, the report finds that the number of outages caused by severe weather is expected to rise as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of hurricanes, blizzards, floods, and other extreme weather events. In 2012, the US suffered 11 billion-dollar weather disasters—the second-most for any year on record, behind only 2011.

Those who run data centers are keenly aware of the criticality of the situation.

As a company that provides co-location and Cloud services, EasyStreet, based in Beaverton, OR, uses a great deal of energy and is dependent upon that energy to be available without interruption.

System uptime and availability are prime concerns. “Making sure that customer’s computing systems have available power is paramount to not only keeping systems up and running at high nines of availability, but for us to keep operating as a viable company,” points out Jon Crowhurst, director of EasyStreet’s technical services.

EasyStreet also has a commitment to being as green as possible and has won many accolades for its business and green initiatives, including being an EPA Green Power Partner.

Through several initiatives, both of EasyStreet’s data centers are now zero-carbon footprint energy consumers. To get to that point, EasyStreet has utilized wind power and flywheel energy storage to meet its needs in a sustainable fashion.

EasyStreet recently built a new SAS 70 (The Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70) Type II audited data center, and completed an energy-saving retrofit to its first data center. Both data centers operate on power that is 100% generated from wind as part of the Portland General Electric Wind Program.

Crowhurst says the company started buying wind offset credits three years ago for its first data center, initially purchasing 50% of its utilization offsets by wind. “We gave our co-lo [co-location center] customers the opportunity to participate in that program and pay a small up-charge to be able to put a

Portland General Electric Wind Program logo on the website, which means that we’re all participating in the program together,” he notes.

EasyStreet’s data center project is the first to qualify for funding through the Oregon Department of Energy’s State Energy Loan Program due to the energy efficiencies gained compared to conventional data center designs. Assisted by the Energy Trust of Oregon, EasyStreet played a pioneering role in developing the Oregon Department of Energy’s expertise in the area of efficient data center design, says Frank DeLattre, president of VYCON Energy.

“Through careful planning and implementation of energy smart technologies and systems, EasyStreet estimates that it will be able to save 524,000 kilowatts a year—enough energy to power 52 average households,” says DeLattre.

In a data center, the cooling system consumes the majority of power. With that in mind, Crowhurst and his team extended the company’s green design throughout the data center to include the purchase of energy-efficient UPS systems and energy-efficient transformers.

Reliability was the primary factor in choosing from among the available green technologies. Crowhurst looked to VYCON to learn more about its clean flywheel energy storage systems. The flywheels had to be able to work with double-conversion UPS systems. VYCON’s VDC-XE units fit the criteria.

“I visited the VYCON factory and looked at how the flywheels were made,” he notes. “VYCON’s experience and history in the marine and rail industry is a fairly impressive use of the technology and shows how rugged they are.”

VYCON’s VDC flywheel systems store and deliver a reliable source of direct current (DC) power, utilizing the kinetic energy of a high-speed flywheel. They are designed to be compatible with major brands of three-phase UPS systems. The systems interface with the DC bus of the UPS, just like a bank of batteries, receiving charging current from the UPS and providing DC to the UPS inverter during discharge, says DeLattre.

The technology enables the VYCON flywheel to charge and discharge at high rates for countless cycles without degradation throughout its 20-year life. The flywheel systems’ footprint offered another benefit. “As a co-lo, space is a precious commodity,” says Crowhurst. “The more space we have, the more we can accommodate our customers’ servers and other computing assets.”

In its new data center, EasyStreet has three VYCON VDC-XE systems running in parallel with double-conversion UPS systems. If there’s a power outage, the 300-kW flywheel systems act as a bridge designed to seamlessly transfer to the facility’s diesel-engine generators. Crowhurst says backup batteries are not needed.

“Having 30 minutes of batteries is, in my opinion, pointless. If the generator doesn’t start in the first 30 seconds, there’s nothing you can do,” he says. “If you had two generator mechanics with their tools in hand standing next to the generator and said, ‘I need this fixed in 14 minutes,’ they’d both laugh at you, because there’s nothing that can be done to diagnose or repair a problem with the generator in the time allowed. A well-maintained generator plant doesn’t need 15 minutes—or even 10 minutes—of batteries.”

Pleased with the results the company had garnered to date from installed flywheel technology that had performed as planned through utility glitches, EasyStreet’s senior management team added three flywheel units, which are connected to an Eaton 9395 UPS to support the existing data center load. The flywheels are designed to work with any UPS.

Large UPS SystemsAnother option for data centers was recently unveiled by Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, which introduced its 9900C UPS for large data centers: a 1-MW scalable system designed for high efficiency—up to 97%—at all load levels. The system also is designed for a small footprint and low total cost of ownership in a true online double conversion UPS.

The 9900C three-phase UPS also is designed with improved power usage effectiveness over conventional UPS systems. Its scalability enables up to eight units for N+1 redundancy or N capacity to offer high power density per square foot of floor space.

In incorporating Digital Signal Processor and Direct Digital Control, Mitsubishi offers “smart” control of its Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) technology to achieve optimal performance. Additionally, its three-level conversion design provides a 15-year lifetime on the capacitors. The 9900C provides a variety of open architecture communications methods as well as an intuitive LCD touch panel for quick access of system status, monitoring, and control.

The most important factor to consider when making a decision about a UPS is the technology, the desired size, and the types of loads on the system. “There has been a big push for transformerless types of UPS in the past 10 years, primarily because these systems have become much more reliable,” says Steele. “The technology has improved, whereas 15 years ago, everything was transformer-based until you got into the smaller 1 kilovolt-ampere to 10 kilovolt-amperes UPS.”

Steele points out that it is inadvisable to run a UPS on a 100% load.

“You want to run it closer to 30 to 50% load to optimize the performance of the UPS,” he says. “Another very critical aspect of UPS technology is how it plays in your facility: what size is your generator? What size is the utility feed coming in? What size is the distribution downstream of the UPS system?”

Additionally, the facility’s size, types of loads being powered up, and the temperature of the environment in which the UPS will be located all play a part in UPS selection. Once installed, ongoing maintenance is critical. The UPS needs an alternate power supply, such as batteries or a flywheel, says Steele.

“It’s just as important—if not more important—to maintain the alternate power supply as it is the UPS system,” he points out. “If you have batteries on the UPS system, depending on the battery technology you’re using, it’s very critical that those are looked at routinely, and over time, in comparison to how they looked on day one to be maintained properly.”

In maintaining the UPS system, it is ideal to have a trained manufacturer’s representative or an authorized service provider from the manufacturer examine the UPS system to ensure it is functioning properly, Steele adds.

First responders play another significant role. “We like to say that nothing ever goes wrong in the field, but there is training businesses look at to have somebody onsite who would be a first responder to report back to say something is going on with the UPS system,” says Steele. “They would call somebody to the site to help continue to troubleshoot, but at least they have the information needed to know on what’s happening at the site.”

A UPS system should be tested two to four times annually, Steele says. “I highly recommend batteries should be tested four times a year,” he adds.

As previous experiences in severe weather events have demonstrated, the placement of backup power is important to its operation. “Usually the UPS systems, when we get into the larger sizes over 100 kilovolt-amperes, tend to go in the utility rooms with the major transformers, the generators, the switchboards, and the switchgear,” says Steele. “If it’s 100 kilovolt-amperes, you more often see those on the data center floor or closer to the servers themselves. If it’s obviously going to be in an area that could potentially flood, you may want to consider relocating the UPS system. Electronics don’t like a lot of water.”

A return on investment in UPS systems will depend on its size and number of units, Steele points out. His company is seeing two- to three-year returns on larger projects, he adds.

Steele says, “The norm five years ago were the 500- and 750-kilovolt-ampere systems, but now we are moving into the larger one megawatt-type units and taking that as high as we can go with parallel systems up to four or five megawatts. It seems like there’s a shift right now moving towards the larger systems as opposed to multiple small systems.”

More Large UPS systemsJim Jones, director of UPS products for Staco Energy Products, says his company has taken note of requests for UPS systems with higher operating efficiencies. To that end, Staco Energy Products is introducing a larger UPS with a 480-V transformerless topology “to eliminate as much of the energy losses as we possibly can in the operation of the system,” notes Jones, who adds that containing rising utility costs is the driving factor. “We’re looking at the 480 topology in the 300-, 400- and 500-kilovolt-ampere ranges,” he states.

The company’s end users are primarily in the mid-range to large IT sector. “Most of the facilities are finding that their utility costs are continuously climbing,” points out Jones. “The only way to eliminate that cost is using more efficient equipment. Unity as a power factor is the best course, but that’s not the easiest and least expensive way to develop the technology.”

Many of the UPS units today have a 0.8 or 0.9 power factor, says Jones. “There are a lot of losses due to heat rejection because of the electronics in the UPS itself,” he says. “We need to eliminate that. We on the UPS side can help them save on their utility usage, their kilowatt demand.”

Staco Energy Products has five UPS units, not including the new one that’s currently rolling out. The line includes:

The new UPS system will be part of the FirstLine P offerings, which does use transformers, notes Jones. “The next step will be going to transformerless 480,” he says.

Staco’s UPS units are user-friendly, adds Jones. “The unit can be completely controlled and monitored right at the control panel on the unit or remotely from a desk.” Maintenance is standard and includes an annual preventative maintenance check, primarily focusing on the condition of the batteries.

Staco Energy Products also manufactures power factor correction units to help facilities control high utility bills. “We look at it from the standpoint of complete savings for the data center from all aspects, from the power factor correction and a more efficient UPS to minimize the utility costs the customer is paying,” says Jones.

Utilities do not have the money to build new power plants, he adds. “The only way they’re going to improve is to put demands on their customers, which they’re doing today—increasing the kilowatt demand charges and forcing their customers to use more efficient equipment in their facilities and reduce their demand charges.”

Jones talks about a typical ROI target for the UPS units: “As long as the ROI is 13 months or less, the project is usually a go, and approved,” he says. “If it gets above that, it takes a little bit longer to justify it.”

The Move Toward Green“Tapping the power of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass and others will help to reduce our country’s dependence on fossil fuels and foreign imports of petroleum,” notes Phil Charatz, president and CEO of Fuji Electric Corporation of America. “By achieving energy independence, we can preserve the environment around us and see a critical shift in our approach to product development.

“Right now, ‘alternative energy’ and ‘green’ remain somewhat of a trend, which means the industries that seek to advance these technologies rely heavily on government subsidies to survive,” he adds. “In order for these companies to thrive and sustain long-term success, it’s our responsibility to embrace energy-efficient products as a way of life.”

“With products ranging from small components such as power semiconductors to large systems that include rectifiers, transformers, and UPS systems, we strive to achieve superior efficiency levels for reductions in power consumption,” says Charatz. “With large systems, increases of even 0.1% efficiency will have a tremendous impact on the end user’s total energy usage, so our R&D [research and development] and engineering teams are constantly seeking new, innovative methods to use in Fuji Electric’s product development and manufacturing processes.”

The company’s 500-kVA UPS System is designed for 97% efficiency, achieved through a true-online double conversion UPS system.

“By adopting Fuji Electric’s proprietary RB-IGBT (Reverse Blocking IGBT) technology, we have achieved conductive loss reduction and reactor loss reduction in a new three-level conversion architecture called AT-NPC (Advanced T-type Neutral-Point Clamped), compared with conventional two-level and three-level products,” says Charatz. By using RB-IGBT technology, there is a reduction in power losses and a reduction in the number of components in the system, says Charatz.

“So in addition to the technology itself achieving increased efficiency, the total cost of ownership is reduced over time since less IGBTs means higher reliability and lower operation costs,” he points out.

“For many companies, the components within their UPS systems are manufactured by third-party companies, which makes quality control a challenge,” he says, adding that Fuji Electric utilizes its own components and is one of the largest manufacturers of IGBT devices. The company also sells these components to other UPS and power electronics providers.

The Albér measurement method is designed to be accurate, reliable and repeatable.

According to an Albér white paper, to understand the company’s measurement technique, one must view a battery as an electrochemical generator, and the internal resistance path through which current flows as an electrical pipe. When an external load is applied to the battery, the electrochemical generator supplies current through the electrical pipe. Everything functions well as long as the generator is working and the pipe is in good shape.

As the battery ages and deteriorates, its capability to supply power becomes more limited, such as a clogged pipe. Friction in the pipe increases, causing less flow. This restriction causes the terminal voltage of the battery to drop when it's time to deliver energy to the load. The result is the battery cannot deliver the desired capacity.

The white paper makes the point that under normal operating conditions, the battery supplies DC, not Alternating Current (AC). When a battery is tested using an AC test current—which is what AC conductance and AC impedance testing does—the test current not only flows through the normal (DC) electrical pipe, it also flows through the internal capacitor (the AC path) that is also a part of the battery.

All of the parallel plates inside the battery form a gigantic capacitor, an electrical component used in a variety of electrical and electronic designs. One of the operating characteristics of a capacitor is that it allows AC to flow through it while blocking DC. The electrical path through the capacitor acts like a pipe in parallel with the normal pipe. The size of the parallel AC pipe varies depending on the size of the battery and the frequency of the test current, but it can be much larger than the normal electrical path.

When the AC test is performed, a great part of the current flows through the AC path, rather than the DC path that needs to be tested. This means as the DC electrical pipe starts to clog, the AC test current flows through the larger pipe and never recognizes any of the problems in the DC pipe. The clogging appears as a minor problem, causing the user to believe the battery is at full or near full capacity.

When the Albér Cellcorder or Battery Monitor tests the state of health of the battery, it forces the battery to supply current through the normal DC pipe and then measures the terminal voltage to see if there are any developing problems, forcing the battery to perform the way it normally should while its performance is being measured.

Since the Albér technique is a true DC resistance measurement, the capacitor in the AC path acts like a closed valve, and the Albér Cellcorder or Battery Monitor evaluates the condition of the DC pipe alone.

Ohm’s Law states that V = I x R, meaning the voltage being read across a resistor is a function of how much current is flowing through the resistor and how big it is. That’s important because if the test current used is very low, then the voltage across the resistor is so low it can’t be measured with the average test equipment, according to the white paper.

The amount of test current is an important factor when assessing a battery’s internal resistance. Large batteries have very low resistance, so, if a small test current is being used, the voltage used to calculate the result will also be very small.

Most test instruments on the market use approximately one amp of test current, which means the resulting voltage is in microvolts (0.000001). There are instruments that can measure very small voltages, but they are very sophisticated and, consequently, very costly.

A low-test current is analogous to a very small flow through the pipe. A flow of just a few drops will not fill the entire pipe and, therefore, will not indicate a clog has developed until the pipe is almost fully clogged. In mission-critical systems, time is of the essence in taking corrective action.

Ohmic test methods were developed so batteries could be tested without disconnecting them from the charger and/or the load. Online testing is much easier and cheaper, but it's not easy to design test instruments capable of handling this application. The problem with testing batteries online is that the charger and the load generate a lot of noise (ripple) that affects the accuracy of the test, according to the Albér white paper. Ripple is a low voltage AC signal that interferes with the on-line test signal if a low-current, AC-based test system is used.

The Albér white paper suggests that in determining repeatable results, end users should put available equipment to the test to evaluate technologies for online ohmic testing. Connect the different instruments to a battery where the charge voltage can be changed and vary the load to the battery while comparing test results. The superior test equipment will provide repeatable results whether the battery is off line or online with full load.

Author's Bio: Carol Brzozowski writes on the topics of technology and industry.

The filter — in which the company and a partner spent $100,000 to develop — is being touted as more versatile in solving power problems caused by sophisticated electronic equipment than its original StacoSine model.

The StacoSine Plus also has been made to better control voltage and not overheat, said Rich Zuccaro, a program manager at Staco.

Staco makes voltage control, VAR compensation, uninterruptible power supplies and engineered power quality solutions. It has about 70 employees, most of whom are its Miamisburg office or Dayton production facility.

The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Components Corp. of America.